NewEnergyNews: PROFESSOR: MORE MONEY FOR NEW ENERGY/

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

The challenge now: To make every day Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT WEDNESDAY, August 23:

  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And The New Energy Boom
  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And the EV Revolution
  • THE DAY BEFORE

  • Weekend Video: Coming Ocean Current Collapse Could Up Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Impacts Of The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current Collapse
  • Weekend Video: More Facts On The AMOC
  • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 15-16:

  • Weekend Video: The Truth About China And The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Florida Insurance At The Climate Crisis Storm’s Eye
  • Weekend Video: The 9-1-1 On Rooftop Solar
  • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 8-9:

  • Weekend Video: Bill Nye Science Guy On The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: The Changes Causing The Crisis
  • Weekend Video: A “Massive Global Solar Boom” Now
  • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 1-2:

  • The Global New Energy Boom Accelerates
  • Ukraine Faces The Climate Crisis While Fighting To Survive
  • Texas Heat And Politics Of Denial
  • --------------------------

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    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

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    WEEKEND VIDEOS, June 17-18

  • Fixing The Power System
  • The Energy Storage Solution
  • New Energy Equity With Community Solar
  • Weekend Video: The Way Wind Can Help Win Wars
  • Weekend Video: New Support For Hydropower
  • Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

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    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

  • ---------------
  • WEEKEND VIDEOS, August 24-26:
  • Happy One-Year Birthday, Inflation Reduction Act
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 1
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 2

    Tuesday, March 11, 2008

    PROFESSOR: MORE MONEY FOR NEW ENERGY

    The world expends 10% of its nearly $60 trillion in annual economic resources on energy, about $5+ trillion. It is universally acknowledged that energy demand is rapidly outstripping energy supply adequate to meet the evolving needs of a world challenged by global climate change. Yet total annual world outlay for energy R&D, public and private, is a mere $30 billion.

    The Bush administration takes pride in having spent $12 billion on New Energy R&D over its two terms but a Harvard professor told a Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) audience the U.S. and the world can and must do much better. John Holdren, professor of environmental policy, Harvard University: "Current federal energy R&D programs are not commensurate in scope and scale with the energy challenges and opportunities the 21st century will present…Any assertion that we can't afford to increase research and development is simply wrong…We can easily afford it."

    The present administration has paid great lip service to the energy infrastructure of the future while doing much to slow its development. The present waylaying of tax credit extensions in Congress is an excellent example. Funding the boondoggle of corn ethanol is another example. Touting the Big Oil-and-Detroit "bait-and-switch" hydrogen highway promises is a third. Maybe it would be best to keep Professor Holdren’s words in mind and wait until after January 2009 to follow his advice.

    Meanwhile ExxonMobil impressed a WIREC audience by announcing new investments of $125 billion. Rex Tillerson, CEO, ExxonMobil: "We will almost double our production of LNG over the next three years, providing greater supplies of this clean-burning energy source for power generation and for industrial and domestic use…"

    The first thing the U.S. needs an R&D study on is why ExxonMobil’s CEO thinks LNG is “clean-burning.” Cleaner, yes; clean, no. It is a hydrocarbon. It spews CO2 when it is burned.


    Not a pretty picture. (click to enlarge)

    The ballooning price tag for energy; A huge chunk of world wealth goes to its unquenchable energy thirst, but an expert says not enough money is invested in newer, cleaner energy solutions
    Steve Hargreaves, March 6, 2008 (CNNMoney)
    and
    Exxon Mobil to invest over $125 bln dlrs in new energy projects
    March 5, 2008 (AFP via Yahoo News)

    WHO
    John Holdren, professor of environmental policy, Harvard University; Peter Robertson, Vice Chairman, Chevron; ExxonMobil Corp (Rex Tillerson, CEO)

    You get what you pay for. (click to enlarge)

    WHAT
    - Professor Holdren told a Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) audience it will require big spending over the next 2 decades to build a 21st century New Energy infrastructure. Mr. Robertson told the same audience the dearth of trained energy scientists and engineers requires investment in education as well as infrastructure.
    - ExxonMobil will invest $125 billion in new projects to meet growing demand.

    WHEN
    - 2001 to date: $12 billion – Bush administration expenditure for New Energy R&D
    - 2007: $2 billion – U.S. private sector spending on New Energy
    - According to Professor Holdren, U.S. spending on New Energy R&D is at about the same level as it was in the early 1980s.
    - ExxonMobil’s $125 billion investment will come over the next 5 years.

    WHERE
    Remarks were made March 5 at WIREC.

    WHY
    - Mr. Robertson said world energy demand is expected to grow 50% in the next two decades.
    - Given much greater energy consumption and even greater anticipated energy needs, the levels of New Energy R&D are in both Professor Holdren’s and Mr. Robertson’s views much too low.
    - Tillerson said ExxonMobil presently has 119 projects expected to generate the energy equivalent of 24 billion barrels of oil. Much of ExxonMobil’s investment will be in its liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. It is likely the investments will return handsome profits.

    Repeat: You get what you pay for. (click to enlarge)

    QUOTES
    - Robertson, Vice Chairman, Chevron: "I don't think we're raising enough people to do the R&D…In the U.S., science and engineering grads are pathetically low."
    - Robertson, Chevron, approving of Professor Holdren’s assertions about the need for new infrastrucutre:"Energy infrastructure, once built, is incredibly long-lived, lasting generations or even centuries…We'll need all available [energy] sources."
    - Tillerson, ExxonMobil: "We will invest record amounts to develop new technology, bring on new upstream projects, increase our base refining capacity and grow our chemical business…"

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